This invention relates to ice-making devices and more particularly to a supplementary apparatus which increases the ice-making capacity of existing ice-making machines.
In fast-food restaurant operations, the need for ice used in soft drinks and other similar purposes is particularly great, especially during the hot summer months. Most often, current ice-making machines do not provide sufficient output of ice to fulfill such requirements and fast-food restaurants must buy additional ice in large quantities to supplement the ice provided by ice makers, which is often cumbersome and can add significantly to operating expenses. Thus, there is a great need for an apparatus which can increase the rate and quantity of ice production of current ice-making machines already installed in such restaurants.
Although some prior patented ice-making devices have used multiple refrigeration units in clustered formation to pre-cool water, none has used an add-on apparatus and method as in the instant invention. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,775,100 by Howe on Jan. 25, 1956, and 2,921,447 by Gottschalk on Jan. 19, 1960, show devices which use water from the discharge overflow of an ice maker to pre-cool incoming city water before it enters the freezing portion of the ice maker. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,730,865 by Murdock on Jan. 17, 1956, discloses an ice-making machine which pre-cools the water in a reservoir before going into the freezing section of the ice maker. U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,029 by Larriva on Dec. 18, 1973, shows a stacked refrigerator booster used to pre-cool water. Another U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,688 by Carpigiani on Aug. 23, 1966, shows pre-cooling circuits for ice cream machines. Other ice-making apparatuses such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,459,824 by Krueger issued July 17, 1984, and 2,836,038 by Morgan on May 27, 1958, are representative of what are currently in use as ice makers.
All the above-referenced patented apparatuses are integral parts of the ice makers themselves. Thus, their use would require ice makers currently in place in millions of fast-food restaurants to be replaced at great expense. Some of the devices described above require that cool water from the ice maker itself be used to pre-cool other water, which further decreases the temperature of the water in the ice maker itself.
On the other hand, the instant apparatus can be added to current systems at nominal expense and still provide more and faster ice production than such systems and with less electrical energy than the clustered refrigeration units. The instant apparatus is used in conjunction with pre-existing beverage systems. A recirculation pump and motor in the instant invention is mounted near the beverage system. Then insulated flexible tubing is run from the pump to coiled tubing made of a highly conductive metal such as copper, which is submerged in the ice bank of the beverage system. Then insulated flexible tubing is attached to the discharge side of this copper tubing which enters the ice maker water feedline. A U-tube is provided in the ice maker feedline to return unused water back to the recirculating pump. Thus, a continuous flow of pre-cooled water having a temperature near freezing, approximately 34 degrees Fahrenheit, is obtained. Since this water is much cooler than the temperature of city water used directly in most ice-making machines, the ice-making cycle time is shortened considerably, thereby allowing approximately a 40 to 45 percent increase in ice production.